Despite the government’s claim that yesterday’s announcement will ‘provide Canadian families with more choices at low prices’, the reality is that consumers will face higher prices, fewer choices and a return to the era of incumbent dominated wireless, Globalive Wireless Management Corp. stated, following a decision by the Harper government to hold a spectrum auction with caps.

“The announcement creates the illusion that the government has gone all-in to create a competitive wireless landscape, when they’ve only done half the job,” said Anthony Lacavera, CEO of WIND Mobile. “Delivering on foreign ownership is only half of the equation. We’ve spent countless months telling the government that caps will destroy our ability to compete with the incumbents in the next auction, thereby crippling wireless competition in Canada.”

The government is prepared to take credit for creating a level playing field in the upcoming auction, when all they’ve really done is stack the deck in favour of the incumbents. To build out an LTE network, 10 MHz of spectrum is necessary. This decision only allows new entrants access to half that amount and will prevent any carriers, other than the incumbents, from building faster networks and keeping up with the increased consumer demand for the best available smartphone technology.

“The government invested in a solid foundation but now they’re asking us to build a house without the tools,” added Lacavera. “It’s a simple formula, without the ability to acquire 10 MHz, NO new entrant can build out LTE, which means NO new entrant can viably compete in the long term. This is a smoke and mirrors announcement designed to distract from the fact that they’ve sided with the incumbents at the expense of Canadians.”

Without access to the 700 MHz spectrum set aside at the next auction, no new entrant would be able to acquire enough spectrum to launch LTE and effectively compete with the incumbents.

You really have to respect a guy who is constantly willing to throw down and fight for what he believes in